Book of Days Tales

Today is the birthday (1912) of Albino Luciani who was elected pope on 26th August 1978 and took the regnal name John Paul I.  He died 33 days later, making his reign among the shortest in papal history, and resulting in the most recent year of three popes and the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement VII in 1523. He was the first pontiff to have a double name, choosing “John Paul” in honor of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. He explained that he was indebted to John XXIII and to Paul VI for naming him a bishop and a cardinal, respectively. Furthermore, he was the first pope to add the regnal number “I”, designating himself “the First”.  

Albino Luciani was born in Forno di Canale (now Canale d’Agordo) in Belluno, a province of the Veneto region in Northern Italy. Here is a classic Belluno recipe that indicates how common it is in Italy for each town or region to have its own culinary specialty. It is a stuffed pasta with a beetroot and ricotta filling. 

Casunziei all’ampezzana

Ingredients

Pasta dough

300 gm plain flour, sifted

3 eggs

Beetroot filling

500 gm of beetroot, peeled

100 gm ricotta

2 eggs

fine breadcrumbs, as needed

fine sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

60g of butter

1 Tbsp of poppy seeds

Parmesan, grated

Instructions

Make the pasta dough by tipping the flour onto a work surface and making a well in the middle. Crack the eggs inside the well and beat with a fork, incorporating the flour a little at the time, until you see some lumps of dough coming together. Carry on with your hands, kneading the dough until you have a smooth, elastic ball. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it in cling film and leave to rest in the refridgerator for half an hour

Meanwhile, make the filling. Steam the beetroots until they are fork tender all the way through – about 30 minutes. Place them in a food processor and blitz to a purée. Place them over a fine-mesh sieve lined with muslin to drain for 10 minutes. Transfer the beetroot purée to a bowl. Add the ricotta and eggs and as many breadcrumbs as needed to thicken the mixture – it should be creamy but not runny. Season with salt and pepper and set aside

Divide the pasta dough into three pieces and roll out using a pasta machine. I normally stop at to the second-to-last setting because the last one makes the dough too thin to work easily. Using a round, 7-to-8 cm ravioli cutter, cut out as many circles of pasta as you can get. Ease a teaspoon of filling into the center of each circle then gently fold it over to form a half moon, smoothing down to remove any air pockets. Press the edges together using a fork, making sure that the seal is tight all around.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Next to it, heat a large skillet and melt the butter for the sauce. Cook the casunziei in boiling water for 3 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Drain them with a slotted spoon and transfer them to the skillet with the melted butter. Sauté for 30 seconds, until evenly coated in butter. Sprinkle with poppy seeds and Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.